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God Turned Away?

Ray Pritchard

Just ponder these words: "Who crucified Jesus? God did!" The exclamation point drives the point home. No one would have expected God to put his only Son on the cross. But that's exactly what happened. The events of Good Friday will make no sense until you grasp that great truth.

And that helps us understand the haunting cry, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

When God looked down and saw his Son bearing the sin of the world, He didn't see His Son, He saw instead the sin that He was bearing. And in that awful moment, the Father turned away. Not in anger at His Son. No, He loved his Son as much at that moment as He ever had. He turned away in anger over all the sin of the world that sent His Son to the cross. He turned away in sorrow and deepest pain when He saw what sin had done. He turned away in complete revulsion at the ugliness of sin.

When he did that, Jesus was alone. Completely forsaken. God-forsaken. Abandoned. Deserted. Disowned.

We may not understand that. Indeed, it is certain that we do not. But that is what these words mean.

Thus did the Son of God make complete identification with sinners. Jesus became a curse for us. He died in our place. All our sins were laid on him. It was for that reason - and only for that reason - that God the Father forsook his beloved Son.